Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison may be new to halls of state Parliament but it hasn’t taken her long to find her voice.
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Near the end of her inaugural speech on Wednesday Ms Aitchison fired her first warning shots across the bow of the Baird government.
She flagged that she was committed to retaining the existing Maitland hospital and that she deemed health services and construction of the new Lower Hunter Maitland Hospital a priority for her electorate.
Fast forward one day and our elected representative found herself removed from parliamentary question time after interjecting on Health Minister Jillian Skinner’s responses to questions about rural and regional health initiatives.
Ms Aitchison says she spoke out because the Lower Hunter Maitland hospital was not mentioned.
In a private member’s statement delivered Thursday evening, Ms Aitchison revisited the event and explained her frustrations.
In addition to the arrogance that greeted her request for a firm timeline around construction of the new hospital, Ms Aitchison spoke of the shroud of secrecy that continued to surround its funding model.
She also called for clarity about the size of the Lower Hunter Maitland hospital and the services the community could expect.
Ms Aitchison said that she would not shy away from asking these questions, or holding the government to account on their promises.
The government should note that the people of Maitland have elected Ms Aitchison to act as our advocate. When she asks questions or demands that the government delivers on promises, she does so for her constitutents.
We, the people, expect answers and action. Not posturing and party politics.
